Cha wu ci xin

Cha wu ci xin (The Abandoned) was one of the movies that I was waiting to watch. I had high expectations from this movie but my expectations did not match after watching the movie's ending. I can tell you that it is a really good movie until the ending of it. Janine Chang is a really good actress and I think that she should appear in TV Series and movies of the West. Nevertheless, I cannot say the same for Chloe Xiang because she is really overacting and it is obvious. The atmosphere of this movie is a bit depressive and if you are suicidal, you should stay away from this movie. I give 5 points out of 10 for this one because of it's ending. It could be much much better if the movie had a different ending and less emphasis on suicidal tendencies.

The story is interesting and the plot pulls you in even though it's not exactly surprising in terms of who did what, to whom and why. This is, in the end, a pretty standard "whodunnit". Found the actors' portrayal of the characters quite good and ended up researching more of their work precisely because of it. I was a bit annoyed by how incompetent the main character came across at times but thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt since she was going through emotional trauma and pain. That being said, her boss was way more patient than most would have been. The younger police officer was funny and charming so I enjoyed their adding her to the story for a bit of an edge.

I was expecting a decent crime thriller but instead I got me some incompetent and plain stupid police and some rather unlikeable victims' circle type characters. The whole plot rests on people acting stupid and impulsively. And in all honesty in real life they probably would not have caught the guy and got themselves killed one way or another by the way they're carrying on. I do love a vigilante type of cop but that's a whole genre and you gotta do it right. The traumatized cop is also a genre of its own, but this is not it.

Anyway, the killer bothered me too, I did not buy the motivation, his origin story, the reason he became unhinged. It doesn't seem strong enough. He also gets too many lucky breaks, or like I said, the guys in pursuit are just plain dumb exposing themselves like that. It's just unimaginative writing. The visuals are good enough, the acting is decent, we just needed better characters and story. Give this to the Scandinavians, they'll make a masterpiece of noir thriller. I mean they probably already made this movie.

The Abandoned didn't stand out in the list of possibilities. Its premise might call your attention if you are looking for a thriller, mainly because the premise feels serious, and the genre is the classic "who is the killer and why." Struggling to cope with the death of her partner, grieving deputy chief Wu Jie stumbles upon the work of a serial killer. Now she must solve the case before another girl gets killed.

The Abandoned follows classic mystery thriller elements, with some detective work and suspects. The climax is figuring out who is the killer and, of course, why he is the killer. It's your generic "whydunit" that The Abandoned executes well enough, entertaining if you want to watch a serious mystery thriller set on Taiwan.

The theme of dealing with loss of loved ones and betrayal are present throughout the movie. All relevant characters deal with some form of the theme, one believes one is guilty for one's loss, one believes one is right for standing his ground against one's loss, one believes one is right for murdering women that one believes are personifications of one's loss. Although the theme is present and strong during character development, the theme is not the focus; the focus is figuring out the serial killer.

The characters are variations of how one would deal with the theme. Main character Wu Jie is the character that feels she is responsible for her loss. Drama is real and effective as expected, but I felt that Wu Jie just abruptly embraces the case and her new partner Wei-shan. They didn't really share any relevant relationship, and Wu Jie, who in the beginning was reluctant about accepting hew new partner, out of the blue defends her, which feels a bit odd. The rest of her development is fine.

The interactions between the characters are alright. The dialogue feels believable, except for Wu Jie's sudden change from "I don't want to work anymore" to "let me work with Wei-shan and solve this case".

Police procedural is a bit absent in The Abandoned. Most of the investigation development happens in dialogue. Wu jei and Wei-shan figure out pieces of the puzzle and communicate.

The story takes place in suburban Taiwanese district. Nothing stands out in cinematography elements or in soundtrack: regular movie style.

Perhaps the only flaw in The Abandoned is that the list of suspects is small. Honestly, we get only three main suspects, which Wu Jei and Wei-shan dismisses quickly through detective work. When we get to the killer revelation, we feel a bit cheated.

The Abandoned does not reinvent the wheel. The story is purely entertainment.

Overall, The Abandoned is amusing for a quick mystery thriller entertainment. The movie does not raise any new factor or try to be innovative; it tries to tell a story to entertain, and it delivers alright.

This movie is such a frustrating one to watch. I don't know it's because the screenplay writer lack of real experience of the Taiwanese police systems, or the writer really knew they are poorly trained, just a bunch of incapable morons who always failed and unable to solve any case.

How could these so-called detectives deal with the daily violent and murderous cases in Taiwan, if they are actually so lame?

This movie showing how stupid and incapable of the Taiwanese police force has inevitably make me jump to another question: If these Taiwanese cop armed with weapons are so weak and stupid, how they deal with the CCP when they invade this island and the whole society in panic?

But I have to repeat my irresistable complaint to the general shortcoming and weakness of all the Taiwanese movies. The horrible unnatural dialogue further spoiled by the poor delivery of all the Taiwanese actors or actresses. It seems once they have memorized the dialogue, every word out of their mouth simply felt so fake or even exaggerated. There's actually no realistic feelings or emotions in their dialogue, but awkward, pretentious and unreal. No real people in their daily lives would speak or talk like them. The Taiwanese screenplay writers never know how the real people in Taiwan actually speak or in real conversation. Then further foiled up by the usually poor talented Taiwanese actors and actresses, they just don't know how to talk like real people. This is the major reason why I have to stop watching Taiwanese movies after a short period, simply by losing patience and always felt uncomfortable to sit through. Almost every Taiwanese movie gave me the same feeling and outcome. It seems that Taiwanese actors, like oil and water, who never could put their acting together naturally with their dialogue.